


the story of us

by Krilymcc (KristiLynn)



Category: Doctor Who (2005), Heroes - Fandom
Genre: Crossover, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-05-17
Updated: 2011-05-17
Packaged: 2017-10-19 12:06:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/200687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KristiLynn/pseuds/Krilymcc
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I have never loved but one man in my life, and I have lost him twice...."</p>
            </blockquote>





	the story of us

**Author's Note:**

> Originally published 11/28/2007. Written as the second project for my short story class.

_{“I have never loved but one man in my life, and I have lost him twice..." -- Cyrano de Bergerac}_

 

I.  
Rose Tyler had been on this version of Earth just 19 days when she first saw him. She was on the bus, and there he was standing on a corner talking to a woman with a very large dog. Now Rose was sure it wasn’t him, but for a moment she had hope that it was. She had hope that he had come to take her home.

The next time was one week later and now she was sure it was him. She was, ironically enough, in the basement of Hendricks Department store (the same place where she met him the first time) on an assignment from Torchwood when she heard someone running behind her. She quickly found a place to hide behind some large barrels and watched as he, The Doctor, suddenly appeared, almost from out of nowhere. He stopped in front of her and looked around as if he were trying to figure out where to hide.

Rose suddenly thanked God for Torchwood's extensive gadget collection and pulled out a small pocket watch made especially for this mission. She pressed a small gold button on the side and watched as everything froze. Well everything except for herself and her old friend.

He looked around for a moment completely stunned until Rose took hold of his hand, whispered, “Run,” and then took off towards the elevator.

They arrived in the elevator just seconds before time unfroze.

“You okay?” Rose asked as the doors shut behind them.

“Yeah, thanks for that. You really saved me,” The Doctor told her.

“No problem. Don’t mention it.” Rose was smiling now, and she was sure she looked like a lunatic.

They both stood silent for a minute, Rose was still grinning from ear to ear taking in every little bit of him. Every bit of the face she hadn’t seen in so long, one ear just slightly bigger than the other, his larger then life smile, the scar on his chin. The scar that he didn’t have before.

It was at this moment when Rose Tyler realized that this man might not be the same man she had traveled to so many different worlds with.

“So what is that thing?” The Doctor, or not the Doctor, asked pointing to the watch that was still in her hand.

Rose considered telling him the actual name of it, (What was it that Ianto had called it? She thought, Oh yes, a VooWoo from the planet Swindel) but then she decided now wasn’t the time for that, “It’s a stop watch.”

“Well that’s interesting. I’m Claude by the way.” Rose tried to hide the disappointment that was rising up inside of her but was sure that it wasn’t working.

“I’m Rose.” she said, “You want to go get something to eat?”

Rose picked the place; it was small and not too far from the shop and more importantly had the best chips in the area.

Not too long after they arrived and found a seat a waitress came by with menus, but Rose just waved them off and ordered two plates of her usual meal.

The two talked about the weather and football, until the waitress came by with their meals.

“So why were those guys after you?” Rose asked as she picked up a few chips from the plate, “Do you owe them money? Are you a spy? It’s okay, you can tell me anything.”

Claude laughed, “No, I’m not a spy. Haven’t been one for a long time.”

II.  
Ever since their first meeting and the dinner that followed Rose Tyler had started counting to see how much time would pass before she saw Claude again, almost like it was a game.

Rose did not, however, expect that game to end in the middle of a gunfight between herself and a two hundred pound alien.

Claude pulled up in a rust bucket of a car and opened the side door. “Get in!” he exclaimed.

Rose hit the internal stopwatch in her head.

Ten days, eleven hours, and thirty-six minutes. That’s how much time had passed since the day that changed her life and now.

“Thanks for that,” she huffed shutting the car door.

“Well you did save me. I figured that I should return the favor. It’s only fair.”

She smiled and knew that she wasn’t going to have to start counting again.

III.  
“Hey Rose?”

“Mhhm,” Rose muttered rolling over in bed.

“Do you remember on our first date, when you said I can tell you anything? That I can trust you?”

“Yeah.”

“There’s something that I need to show you, and you have to promise me that if you can’t handle it you need to tell me and we’ll end this right now. I’ll understand. I will.”

“Claude, what’s going on?”

“Just watch.”

Claude sat up and closed his eyes. And then after a second he was gone, completely gone, only to reappear a few seconds later. Rose was speechless.

“Rose please say something.”

“You just disappeared.”

“That’s right.”

“Did you go somewhere?”

“No. I was right here that whole time.”

“So, you can make yourself invisible?”

“Yes.”

“How?”

“It’s just something I’m able to do. And that’s why those men were chasing me when we first met.”

“Huh.” Rose brought her knees up to her chest and rested her head on them.

“Well, you’re taking this better than I had expected.”

“I wish that I could tell you that this was the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen, but it isn’t.”

“It isn’t?”

“There’s something you need to know.”

With that Rose told him the story of her life up until this moment. She told how the first nineteen years of her life were positively uneventful until she met The Doctor. She told him about how The Doctor could change his face, and one of those faces looked identical to his. She told him about how he took her away from home to show her all of time and space in his magical blue box.

“I’ve met Charles Dickens, Queen Victoria, and Madam de Pompadour, I’ve seen the Earth destroyed and rebuilt again. Traveling with him was one of the greatest experiences of my life.”

“So, if you don’t mind me asking, why are you here? Why are you hanging out in London when you could be on some other planet?”

Rose’s eyes fell to the floor and then slowly she looked back up.

“There was this war between the Dalek‘s and the Cybermen.” Claude just looked at her with his brow furrowed so Rose explained, “Think R2-D2’s and Robots. Anyway, my parents were already here and they wanted me to come with but I stayed behind to fight along side The Doctor. It was the end and we had this void open to pull the Dalek’s and the Cybermen in and trap them between this world and that one forever.”

“Between this world and that one? I don‘t understand.”

“There are parallel worlds. Every single decision we make here, every decision, creates a parallel world. And I’m from one of those worlds.”

“So what happened? How did you get here?”

“Well, unfortunately, something went wrong and I was about to be pulled in. Thankfully my father appeared just in time and brought me back here before the void was closed forever. ”

“I still don’t understand.”

“I’m stuck here Claude. I can never go back.”

IV.  
Rose took a hold of Claude’s hand as they pulled up to her parent’s house.

“This is your parent’s house? This is where you live?”

“Yeah.”

“Please tell me that they live in the pool house.”

“Claude--”

“I mean this place is huge! I don’t think I have ever gone to school in a place this big.”

“Come on it’s not that big.”

“Yes it is!”

“Plus, it's not like I grew up here.”

“But you live here now.”

“Yeah. But don’t worry. You’re going to be just fine.”

Rose got out of the car and shut the door behind her.

“Oh I should probably warn you that my mum might over react a little when she sees you.”

“Because I look like the Doctor?” Claude asked

“Yeah.”

Over react was an understatement; what Jackie Tyler did upon seeing Claude walk through the door with her eldest child was nothing short of a complete meltdown. She began to scream and cry, shouting, “You will not take my daughter again,” and Claude quickly stepped outside while Rose and her father tried to calm the woman.

“There you are.” Rose said later as she walked out the front door and found Claude sitting on the stoop.

“Thought it’d be best to stay out of the way and let the three of you handle things yourself.”

“Yeah, I’m sorry about that.”

“She really doesn’t like the Doctor does she?”

“No. I mean by the end she did. But she’s just getting used to having me home every day and she doesn’t want to have to go back to worrying about whether or not I’m ever going to be back.”

“There was a possibility of that?”

“I was missing for a year.”

“Wow. Just missing?”

“Uh-huh. She thought I was dead. She thought Mickey, my boyfriend at the time, had done something to me.”

“But you were traveling? With the Doctor?”

“Mmm-Hmm.”

V.

 

Rose unlocked the door to Claude’s apartment and walked in. It had been a long weekend and all see wanted to do was not think about anything. She found that easier said than done.

As soon as she sat down on the couch and closed her eyes her mind replay the events of the past the few days, especially one event in particular, that were running through her head.

She was on a beach, and it was completely empty. But of course it was, seeing how it’s December and no sane person would be on a beach in Norway in December. In front of her is The Doctor. Or the image of The Doctor rather. In reality he was in his blue box, burning up a sun to say goodbye.

“Rose Tyler, defender of the Earth…” The Doctor smiled, his eyes drifting to the sand beneath where his feet would be if he were really there. Then he looked back up quickly, “You're dead - officially - back home. So many people died that day and you had gone missing. You’re on the list of the dead.” He paused for a moment “Here you are, living your life day after day. The one adventure I can never have.”

“Am I ever going to see you again?” Rose knew the answer, deep down she knew, but she had to be sure.

“You can't.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Back to the TARDIS. Same old life.”

“On your own? “

“Yeah.”

“I-” Rose found the words become caught in her throat as she said them, “…I love you.”

“Quite right too.” He was quiet and after spending so much time together Rose knew that he trying to convince himself to do what needed to be done, “And I suppose, if it's my last chance to say it... Rose Tyler...I…”

The sound of the door opening caused Rose to jump back to the present.

“Well hey you.” Claude smiled as soon as he saw Rose, “What’ve you been up to? I’ve been trying to get a hold of you all weekend. ”

“I was in Norway.”

“Aww Torchwood, always sending you to the fun places.”

“No, it wasn’t an assignment. It was…” Rose wanted to tell him the truth but couldn’t. How could she possibly put what had happened into words? “There was just something I had to do.”

VI.  
Six months had passed since Rose first met Claude and things were actually going really well. Much better than any of her other relationships.

But like with every good thing in her life it too had to end.

Claude had called her one day at lunch to tell her that he had to leave town for a few days. He told her everything was fine so Rose didn't think anything of it. Unfortunately a few days slowly turned into three weeks.

"Here you go Rose," Ianto Jones said placing a stack of papers on Rose’s desk, "Your father needs to see you when you've got a minute."

"Okay thanks," she said not looking up from the file she had been staring at for the last hour.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, sure I am."

"Okay." Ianto turned to walk away but stopped when Rose called out his name.

"How do you find an invisible man?"

"Is that some sort of a riddle?"

"You know what? Never mind."

Ianto walked over to Rose's desk and took a seat.

"What's really going on?" he asked.

"Claude's been missing for the last couple of weeks and I'm really starting to get scared.”

~*~

"Rose...Rose..." When Rose first heard his voice she thought she was dreaming. But then she heard it again, and again, "Rose...Rose wake up."

"What?" She groaned rolling over and found Claude perched on the bed beside her, "Claude?"

"Yeah, it's me.”

“Where where you? I was worried sick! I thought you were dead in a ditch somewhere. Or worse.”

“I’m fine but I need you to be very quiet okay?"

"Claude, what's going on?"

"I'm in some trouble. I can't get into it right now.”

“It’s those men isn’t it? The ones who were after you?”

“Yes.”

“And you’re leaving?” Rose knew it. She had done this all before.

“I’m afraid so, Love.”

“Alright.” Rose blinked away a few of the tears that had formed from her dark brown eyes. She tried to stay brave, “How soon?”

“Soon.”

“Why is it always like this?” Rose tried not to cry, really she did, “Why are you always the one leaving me?”

"Rose..."

"I don’t understand it. Why can’t you stay? Come to Torchwood we can help you.”

“It’s not safe. I’m doing this for your own good Rose.”

“You always say that too.” She shook her head, “So what‘s going to happen?”

“As soon as I leave here I’m going to disappear. Gone forever.”

“Forever.” Rose nodded her head. Rose nodded her head. It was all she had the strength to do. "Alright. If that's what you think you have to do."

VII.  
The sound of rain pattering against the window woke Rose up from her sleep but the feeling that she wasn’t alone was what kept her awake. This wasn’t an uncommon feeling; Rose felt it a few times a year for the past six years and she knew exactly what it meant. Claude was here. He was with her, watching her, making sure that she’s safe.

And she found comfort in this. It meant that he was still out there, he was still alive. She hadn’t lost him for nothing.

“Goodnight Claude.” Rose whispered into the darkness and she could almost hear him whisper, “Goodnight.” back.


End file.
